Brigham Young’s Family

By concentrating only upon the extensive sources of Brigham Young’s public life, the writer glimpses but the tip of the iceberg as far as Brigham’s personal struggles in life are concerned, because these public sources indicate little of the depth of his effort to care for his family. This was intentional on Brigham’s part. Living in an era when curious minds were constantly seeking a glimpse of his private affairs, he told the Church Historian that he wanted but few details of his family life included in the public record. While these conditions were necessary they combined to close the door on the magnitude of his personal burdens in the pages of his public records. To ascribe to Brigham Young gigantic proportions on the basis of his public achievements, while failing to uncover the personal struggles that made his accomplishments even more heroic, is to laud him for courage without measuring its extent or defining the difficulties that made him what he was.